Lester Martínez López

Martínez López was born in the city of Mayagüez, located on the western coast of Puerto Rico, but was raised and educated in the town of Maricao. In 1978, he graduated from the School of Medicine in the University of Puerto Rico.[2]

In 1978, Martínez López joined the United States Army and was sent to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where he received his specialty training in family practice and commissioned a Captain upon the completion of his training. He was part of a multinational force in the Sinai following the 1978 Camp David Accord. In 1983, he completed his MPH (Master of Public Health) degree at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus in environmental health sciences. In 1995, Martínez López served as chief medical officer when U.S. forces were sent to Haiti, and three years later, in 1998, he oversaw military relief operations for 8,500 victims of Hurricane Mitch in Central America.[3]

Lester Martínez López as a brigadier general

On March 22, 2002, Martínez López assumed the command of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. The command's research includes vaccines for dengue fever, anthrax and hepatitis; anti-virals for smallpox and countermeasures for environmental, biological and chemical hazards.[2]

As commander of USAMRMC, Martínez López managed more than 4,600 civilian, military and contract facilities at the Army's six medical research laboratories across the country, which include the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense, the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research and the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine.[2] Also under his command were more than half a dozen support centers through contracting, medical logistics management, health care facility planning and information technology management, included the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC), the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity and the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency.[3]

Martínez López retired from the U.S. Army in 2005 and was named the Senior Vice President & Administrator of Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital Harris County Hospital District in Houston, Texas.[7] He also served as the Chief Medical Officer at the Brandon Regional Hospital in Brandon, Florida.[8] Martínez López belongs to various professional organizations, among them the American Board of Family Medicine and the American Board of Preventive Medicine. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Martínez López is ceremonially sworn in as the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs by under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness Gil Cisneros on March 21, 2023.

On November 17, 2021, the White House announced that President Biden intends to nominate Lester Martínez López for the position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.[9] On January 10, 2022, the White House submitted the nomination to the U.S. Senate, where it was referred to the Committee on Armed Services. The committee held a hearing on the nomination on February 15, 2022, and favorably reported the nomination to the full Senate on March 8, 2022. However, that nomination was stalled and returned to the President on January 3, 2023.[10] He was renominated that same day and was submitted to the Senate. On February 2, 2023, his nomination was advanced to the Senate floor. On February 15, 2023, the United States Senate invoked cloture on his nomination by a 64–33 vote.[11] On February 16, 2023, his nomination was confirmed by a 61–34 vote.[12]

Among Major General Martínez López's military awards and recognition's are the following:

	Senior Flight Surgeon Badge
	Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters
	Defense Meritorious Service Medal
	Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters
	Army Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster
	Army Achievement Medal with one oak leaf cluster
	National Defense Service Medal with one bronze service star
	Armed Forces Service Medal
	Armed Forces Reserve Medal
	Army Service Ribbon
	Army Overseas Service Ribbon
	Multinational Force and Observers Medal
	Joint Meritorious Unit Award
	Army Superior Unit Award

• List of Puerto Ricans
• List of Puerto Rican military personnel

• "Puertorriquenos Who Served With Guts, Glory, and Honor. Fighting to Defend a Nation Not Completely Their Own"; by : Greg Boudonck; ISBN 1497421837; ISBN 978-1497421837